After a near-death experience, how do you return to life? For Micah McElveen, it took almost losing his life to begin to live fully alive.

After diving head first into a wave as a teen, Micah found his story taking an unexpected turn due to a near fatal injury. In what can only be explained as a miracle, God gave Micah a second-chance at life and the realization that life was truly a vapor.

It was from the difficult journey through the physical, emotional and spiritual pain that God showed Micah the purpose He had for him. Years later, Micah began a world-changing ministry called Vapor that serves the most marginalized and in need people around the globe through clean water, medical care and meeting other physical needs while sharing the gospel.

It is through that work and his own story of suffering that Micah has been given a unique perspective on what it means to live fully alive, how to find purpose when life threatens to take it away, and the importance of caring for the least of these in the world.

Davey sits down with Micah for an important conversation that will help you look at your own story and know that you are alive to make a difference.

"We're letting you go." It's the words no employee wants to hear and yet, job loss is at a staggering high. What do you do when the company you've given your time and talents to tells you they no longer have a place for you?

Job loss and unemployment is more than just a financial loss, it can lead to a spectrum of emotional, spiritual and mental pain points as well.

Dale Kreienkamp knows all too well about the feelings that can come after being let go, having experienced it not once, but twice in his career as an executive.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Dale to talk about how to wrestle through the emotions of losing a job, practical steps to take in the waiting, and how to help those we love who may be going through unemployment.

Whether or not you personally are walking through this, you'll want to listen to this episode to gain insight on what to do when life takes an unexpected turn.

Have you ever asked yourself how life can be good again after a devastating loss? Have you found yourself having to learn to depend on God in your deepest pain?

Author and speaker Lisa Appelo knows all too well what it looks like to search for meaning and joy in life when your world falls apart. In the summer of 2011, she found herself a widow and single mom of seven children after the sudden, tragic loss of her husband, Dan.

Davey chats with Lisa about how she walked her children through their own painful grief, how death revealed her idol of self-sufficiency and how she learned to lean on God for everything in her journey towards healing.

Whether or not you have lost a spouse, Lisa's wisdom on how pain can shape us and wake us up to eternity is for you. Her story is a reminder, no matter what your pain, that life can be good again.

For many Americans, the recent headlines about the war in Ukraine came as a shock, but for the people living in the reality of the conflict, life has felt unstable for quite some time.

Ukrainian missionaries Yuriy and Madison Perekotiy know firsthand what it is like to live in a place where wars and rumors of wars exist as part of daily life. But when the most recent invasion happened while they were in the United States for a visit, the helplessness of being so far from home and the people they know, love and serve became a difficult reality to bear.

In this episode, Davey and Kristi have a candid conversation with the Perekotiy's about what is happening across the globe in Ukraine, the trauma that war can unleash on so many and how others can step in and help, no matter where they are.

If you've been watching the news and feeling at a loss as to what to do, you won't want to miss the insight and honesty the Perekotiy's share about how we as believers can help the most vulnerable in the world right now.

In a world so broken, it is no wonder that division can be seen everywhere, even within the walls of the Church. The past few years especially have shone a light on how pervasive the sin of racism still exists to this day within our communities and within the body of Christ.

Through his own personal experiences and his study of God's word, former NFL player turned pastor, Derwin Gray, has a vision for how healing can come where there is so much pain when it comes to the topic of race.

The early Church proves that God's desire for His people is diversity and healing our divides is possible through the power of Christ's resurrection.

Davey talks with Pastor Derwin Gray about what it looks like to heal our racial divide, encouragement for those who have experienced racial trauma, how to deal with the sin of racism in our hearts and a hope for a future in which we all see the beauty in God's design.

Let this conversation embolden you to become an agent of change in your church, your community, and your home.

When it comes to our struggles with our emotions, pain and story, one of the most difficult by-products to navigate is the loneliness that we can experience as a result of our journey.

A pervasive sense of being unseen and unknown can lead to a deep feeling of hopelessness. With raw honesty, Dr. Mark Mayfield shares his own personal journey in learning how his unhealed emotions led to a feeling of being alone and how finding language to identify what he was experiencing brought him to a place of healing.

In this conversation, Davey and Mark sit down to talk about what loneliness is, what it can to do us and how we can find the path out of loneliness.

Whether you've felt bouts of loneliness because of the recent pandemic, have felt isolated as a pastor or church leader or if depression and anxiety have made you feel alone, this conversation is for you.

What happens when the excitement of a pregnancy comes to a screeching halt with the words you never expected to hear: Down syndrome?

For many parents, it can feel like a life sentence of fear and unknowns. What started out as a grief over the life Misty Snyder was expecting to have with her second-born child, ended up to be one of her greatest gifts.

While she wrestled through the anxieties and mourned the expectations of what she thought motherhood of two would be like, Misty has found a richer, more fuller life than she could have ever imagined. She has taken her pain and turned it into a vibrant, encouraging community called Happiness is Down Syndrome to support other parents grappling with the challenges and joys that come with loving a child with Down syndrome.

Join Davey and Misty as they talk about what to do when life takes an unexpected turn and how to find happiness in the midst of it. Whether you are a parent of a child with special needs or just know one, this episode will help you see the good in the hardest moments of life.

How can you experience God's breakthrough when your circumstances seem to go from bad to worse? For Traci McCombs, that journey was a long and difficult one as she endured several miscarriages, a season of infertility and a cancer diagnosis while also facing the challenges of being a military spouse.

Just when she thought all hope was lost, God broke through in unexpected ways. In this conversation, Davey and Traci sit down to talk about what it can look like to learn to trust God instead of the outcome of our situation and how God's peace and love are available to us no matter what unfolds in our story.

How do we learn to walk with grief? Clarissa Moll has been learning to do just that ever since losing her husband, Rob, in a tragic hiking accident in 2019. Through her pain, Clarissa has seen grief transform her into a more compassionate person while teaching her how to live more fully in the midst of great loss.

In this conversation, Davey and Clarissa sit down to talk about what to do with the most intimate, sacred parts of your story, how to transform your trauma into post-traumatic growth and ways to help others who are hurting while still in your own pain.

There are certain issues that the church is silent on too often. Whether it’s from fear of controversy or just not knowing what to say, it’s all too easy for many Christians to be afraid of talking about topics that can seem “messy.”

Jackie Hill Perry is not one of those people. Having dealt with sexual abuse, pornography, gender confusion, same-sex attraction, and more, Jackie is well versed in these topics that many Christians fear to talk about.

And as an author, speaker, poet, and more, Jackie has found herself in a unique position to speak up about these important issues.

This week on the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast, Jackie sits down with Davey to share some of her story and how it relates to pain, healing, redemption, and more.

It seems like every day we hear about yet another abuse of power from a political, spiritual or business leader. It can make you wonder how many people saw something before the ultimate downfall.

For Tiffany Bluhm, there was not only the pain of witnessing an abuse of power but also the pain of remaining unheard even after she spoke up against the injustice she saw.

In this episode, Tiffany and Davey talk about what we can do when we come face to face with an abuse of power either as a victim or a bystander and how we can all work together to follow Christ's example of honoring every human being irregardless of status in power structures.

Learning to boldly speak up, whatever our position may be, is an invitation from Jesus to promote justice and recognize the Imago Dei in each and every person.

How do you find purpose in pain that seems to have no end in sight?

Pastor and former athlete Jesse Bradley found himself facing that question when anti-malaria drugs sent him on a ten year journey of healing from chronic pain and health issues.

Jesse sat down with Davey to have a conversation about what it looks like to find purpose in our pain when it doesn't seem to be getting better. It was in the hardships of that experience as well as others that Jesse found his true path towards healing and becoming a conduit of healing for others.

His journey has included being a child of divorce, fostering and adoption in his own family as well as becoming a pastor passionate about sharing the love and truth of the gospel.

This conversation will inspire you towards hope and healing no matter what pain you are facing.

What happens when the place that is supposed to be a source of comfort ends up causing you some of the greatest pain of your life?

The avenue God created for both healing and sharing the good news of the gospel can sometimes be where many of us are intentionally or unintentionally wounded by the people within its doors.

In this episode, Davey sits down with author Catherine McNiel as she tenderly shares her experience with being wounded by the Church. As a young girl, Catherine felt completely abandoned by the community she once knew and found herself grappling well into adulthood with how to trust again in the context of Church.

Where fear threatened to keep her isolated, God offered her another way, the way of love. No matter what the cause of church hurt may be, accepting God's invitation into love and freedom rather than fear and distrust is the only way forward.

When trauma enters our lives, it can be difficult to imagine a life beyond the pain and brokenness that we see. Many of us turn to the coping mechanisms we have learned over the years in hopes of finding relief from the hurt.

Yet often, we can find ourselves abandoning the one thing that can help put the broken pieces back together: connection.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Dr. Curt Thompson, author and psychiatrist, to discuss what healing looks like in the context of community and how hope can be found as we connect with one another in the midst of our painful stories.

Pain has a way of keeping us in the dark, of making sure that we don’t know how to cope and heal properly. When it feels like there’s nowhere else to turn, it’s all too easy to fall into harmful coping mechanisms and patterns that may deal with our pain in the moment, but only make things worse in the long run.

When Brittany Tinsley went through a painful season at a young age, this is exactly what happened to her. Unable to find anything else to make her feel better, Brittany discovered that, at least for a few moments, she could replace her greater emotional suffering with pain of a different kind.

Years of dealing with self harm left Brittany scarred both emotionally and physically, but thankfully that’s not the end of her story.

Brittany sits down with Davey to share some of her journey of healing and the wisdom she’s gained along the way.

On one fateful day, Jon Hagedorn gathered his wife and children to engage in a family tradition of theirs, something they did to make sure they always remembered God’s goodness and faithfulness. But they couldn’t have known how much that belief was going to be tested.

Mere hours later, Jon’s wife died suddenly. Facing life as a single father while dealing with his own grief, Jon had no choice to face the same questions that any of us would ask in that situation.

Is God really good or really faithful if he let this happen?

To conclude our Widowhood Series, Jon sits down with Davey to share his story and how he found a deeper, richer knowledge of God in the midst of unimaginable pain.

We all hope that our faith will leave a legacy, that our decisions to follow God even in the middle of incredible hardship will have affect the lives of people who haven’t even been born yet. Faithfulness, it turns out, has a way of rippling across generations to impact the lives of our children’s children’s children.

This is the story of Jim and Martha Blackburn. Having both lost their first spouses themselves, Jim and Martha found themselves in a unique position to minister to Davey, their grandson, in the wake of the loss of his late wife Amanda.

To continue our Widowhood Series, Davey sits down with his grandparents Jim and Martha as they share their story of loss, healing, faithfulness, and redemption.

There are certain words and phrases that we all dread to hear, and perhaps one of the worst is when a doctor says “cancer.” When Brandon Janous’ wife was diagnosed, he knew their family was in for a long, hard struggle. But sadly, Brandon’s wife wouldn’t make it through this season.

Suddenly left grieving one of the worst losses imaginable and with three children to take care of, Brandon found himself in an impossible situation.

In this installment of our Widowhood Series, Brandon sits down with Davey to share some of his story and what he’s learned about who God really is through this painful season.

Every partner of someone with an especially dangerous job has to face the reality that there is always a chance their husband or wife won’t make it home one day.

But no amount of theoretical expectations could have prepared Gracie Parrish for the day when two uniformed police officers showed up at her door to deliver the last piece of news she would have ever wanted.

Suddenly left as a single mother of two young children, Gracie found herself on a difficult journey that she could never have expected. To continue our widowhood series, Gracie sits down with Davey and Kristi to share her story of loss, grief, redemption, and newfound purpose.

The loss of a spouse is one of the deepest forms of pain that any of us can imagine. Marriage is one of life’s greatest joys, and when that is suddenly cut short, the pain that results is something that most of us can’t even begin to imagine.

Ron Hutchcraft, however, doesn’t have to imagine. In 2016, Ron’s wife of more than 50 years passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Through this unbelievable pain, Ron found a new, deeper understanding of God.

To kick off our Widowhood Series, Ron sits down with Davey to share his story of loss and healing, and how we can find hope in the middle of our deepest pain.